Every day, millions of people log in to their computers using an associated password and username. By logging in and using such personalized information, the presence or absence of the person at a computer terminal can be determined. In addition, presence or absence of a person can be determined through a phone system. For instance, calls made by a person can be used to automatically detect presence of the caller's location.
Because these detection devices have limited ranges, however, other devices have been used for locating a person of interest. Motion sensor systems, through infrared technology, can determine the presence or absence of a person by detecting movements within a limited range. Global positioning systems (GPS), often provided in many cell phones, can also be used to determine the location of a person. Through these global positioning systems, latitude, longitude, and even the elevation of the person can be determined. In other applications, a wireless fidelity (WiFi) detector can be used. While providing a greater area for detection, these detectors often provide uncertain and ambiguous information.
Recently, “availability” features were introduced into presence and absence determination systems. Availability features provide the user with options describing their current status. A user could be “unavailable,” “available,” “busy,” “in a meeting,” “on a call,” etc. As an illustrative example, systems would consider a user “unavailable” if the computer system failed to detect mouse or keyboard movements for a prolonged period of time. Systems were also programmed to go “busy” when associated applications, such as electronic calendars, indicated so. By using the availability feature, other parties interested in the whereabouts of the user would be able to check the user's status.
As millions of users are introduced to these types of systems, creating and maintaining location information and location based policies can become overwhelming. Many systems have failed because they have been built with an optimistic expectation of a user's involvement. Typically, users are not willing to spend large amounts of time on training for new systems for which they have not, as yet, seen clear benefits. Furthermore, previous systems were rigid in the way they stored location information and policies and often did not provide for minor adjustments. A need therefore exists to provide a system and method for overcoming the previously described limitations as well as overcoming limitations present within today's systems.